Above the Earth

photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Can you tell what this photograph shows? Yes, that's a tree in the center—one of the last standing in this part of Tsavo National Park in Kenya, Africa. In the 1970s, human hunters, settlement, and drought caused herds of elephants to crowd into the park, where their overpopulation seriously damaged the surrounding vegetation.

Some human effects on the earth are obvious. This is just one refuse dump in Mexico City, Mexico, where residents deposit nearly 10,000 tons of household garbage every day. In industrialized countries around the world, each person creates between 700 and 2,000 pounds (a whole ton!) of garbage every year. That probably includes you!

What's so important about the rainforest? For one thing, its thick plant growth keeps heavy rains from eroding the soil. In Argentina, where much of the forest has been cleared for farming, iron-rich red soil runs off into the river and out to sea. The Rio Uruguay, which runs across the picture, is ruddy and muddy, but the tributary flowing into it isn't. Can you guess why?

More evidence of rainforest destruction floats down the Amazon River in Brazil. Logging, an important industry in Brazil's economy, uses up 7,400 square miles of rainforest every year. The loss of this habitat poses a huge threat to the global web of life, since nearly two-thirds of the world's organisms live in the Amazonian rainforest.

Vocabulary

Activity

Look at the picture of the logs floating on the river. Why is logging important to Brazil?[anno: Logging is an important industry in Brazil's economy.]

Why is logging harmful to Brazil?[anno: Logging is harmful because it destroys rainforest habitat.]

Write a short paragraph supporting one side of the logging issue. Your paragraph should list a few reasons why logging should continue or why logging should stop.[anno: Answers will vary but should include supporting reasons for either side. If the student is writing in favor of logging, reasons might include that logging is necessary to support people in Brazil and to supply the world with wood. If the student writes against logging, reasons might include that if the rainforest is destroyed, much of the life on the planet will suffer.]